Report from the Picket Line in Leicester

By Alex Morgan, Assistant Branch Secretary, PCS HMRC Leicester branch

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) members in the Midlands were on strike on Thursday 26 June as part of our rolling regional week of action in the jobs and staffing campaign. HMRC are refusing to consult meaningfully with the union on massive job cuts and privatisation across the country.

By next year HMRC will have reduced in size by 50% since 2005 whilst the “tax gap” continues to grow. On top of this we have the closure of enquiry centres forcing people onto an already failing telephone system that answered only one of ten calls on 31 July last year for example.

Added to this they are persisting with an unpopular and discredited performance management system. This is the first step in a campaign that will continue to we get adequate staffing and an end to privatisation so we can properly collect public revenue and abolish tax evasion.